The outgoing US Ambassador, Deborah Malac has praised Uganda for playing a leading role in the stability in the region.
Speaking during her farewell press conference yesterday, Malac said despite the region being a tough one, Uganda has continued to play a role in ensuring stability.
“The region is a tough and difficult neighborhood in eastern DRC, Sudan, SouthSudan and Burundi but Uganda has continued brokering peace,” Malac said.
In 2007, Uganda was the first country to deploy troops in Somalia under the AMISOM and turned around what had for long been termed as a “mission dead on arrival.”
The Ugandan troops are deployed in Sector One in Benadir,(has 16 districts) Banadir, and Lower Shabelle regions having pushed Al Shabaab militants for over 200km away from Mogadishu city for normalcy to return to the capital where the militants roamed freely.
She said that in her time, the US has supported the training, equipping and deployment of nearly 25000 Uganda military personnel to Somalia to help in improving regional security and stability.
Uganda has been at the forefront of fighting Allied Democratic Forces that have made life difficult in the volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where they roam freely and have killed thousands of locals.
Uganda has also played an important role in brokering peace in the continent’s newest country, South Sudan.
Malac will later this month leave the country as US Ambassador but also retire to private work after spending 39 years doing US public service, mainly in Africa.